May issue 2009

After performing several times at The Second Floor (T2F) when it needed help, Tina Sani once again came to the rescue: “My passion is music and so, I have decided to sing for T2F,” she wrote in her invitation letter to the fundraiser titled Har Taan Hae Deepak, held at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVSAA) on April 17.

With Tina, it is always a learning experience; she not only sings the verses of the greats, both their well-known and lesser-sung verses, but also introduces other, less venerated poets. And she did just that at IVSAA, offering unexpected delights to lovers of Urdu/Punjabi poetry.

The song list for the evening comprised, among requests, some of Tina’s own favourites. Undoubtedly, while many of the regular numbers and a bulk of Faiz’s poetry were sung, the audience did miss out on “Bol Ke Lab Azad” and “Dasht-e-Tanhai,” but breathed a sigh of relief with “Bahar Aiyee” and “Hum Dekhain Ge.”

But had she not skipped out on the regular numbers, we would never have been treated to the lesser-sung Kabir Das’ mesmerising Sufi verses in Punjabi, or excerpts from Iqbal’s “Shikwa” and “Jawab-e-Shikwa,” the latter reserved as the show’s finale.

The evening came to an end at 1 a.m. — longer than most of Tina’s ghazal evenings, making one realise that no matter what the duration, one just cannot get enough of Tina. Her audience is sure to take her up on her promise of devoting three hours to just “Shikwa” and “Jawab-e-Shikwa,” which she has agreed to sing once T2F reopens.

A generous donor has provided two floors of a building to T2F to relocate to; however, more funds are required for the actual process of moving. However little, all donations are welcome, so that the place, as Tina says, which “brought life and colour back to our city,” can do so once again.